Some friends and I decided sometime last week that we should do our now annual ride at the Snow-Bowl before the snow went away. So Adam, Bill, Chas, Jim, Scooby and myself all met at the shop Tuesday evening and then proceeded to the top of the gap. We decided to cheat a little bit and left a car in the base parking lot so we could shuttle the last climb.

After getting all our gear together, we walked the short section of the Long Trail into the Snow-Bowl. We hiked up to the top of the Lang and enjoyed the view from the top of the lift. The sun would be setting soon. Spring is slowly getting here, with buds on the trees in the valley. We still had just enough snow for a good run down the mountain.

We started riding down the hill, with Chas using skiis and Scooby on paws. The snow was pretty soft and you had to keep your weight well back to keep from doing an endo.

There was the remains of a few jumps and a half-pipe. With enough speed we could make it up the jumps, almost pulling a wheelie with our weight waaaay back.

As the trail got steeper we were able to keep momentum without pedaling, and even were able to carve a few turns.

We regrouped at the bottom and then pedaled over to the Allen and began to climb it.

The Allen is the center-piece trail for the Snow-Bowl. It has several "levels", with steep pitches in between. Nothing too extreme, but good and steep in parts.

We began our climb. Someone had abandoned a perfectly good plastic sled, so Scoob decided to bring it along.

When we were just past the half-way point I paused to take a few pictures. The picture below is the last pitch to climb. Below and to the right is how far we'd come, with the lodge way in the background.

Once we got to the top we took the Ross back down. We had been sledding a couple times recently on the Allen, so we wanted something new.

The Ross was about half-snow, half-grass. It made a nice combo, you could get speed on the grass, then lean back and zip through the snow. Some pitches were steep enough to get in a few turns. I went over the bars about 3 times, and the other guys had similar luck, though Chas was skiing back down the Allen, and Scooby didn't have any trouble negotiating the terrain. He usually kicks our butts pretty solidly, except when we get some speed up on a long stretch of trail.

I didn't get many pics because I was busy riding, but I had Bill get some shots of me riding off a small ledge on the side of the trail. He missed the part when I was on it (I went down the big part, honest!), but I was able to apply a little Photoshop magic and put the just-before and just-after pics together.

We shuttled Bill and I to retrieve vehicles, then went on our way. We all definately agreed it was a very fun time and we'll have to make it an annual ride.